"As he thinketh in his heart, so is he." (Proverbs 23:7.) "Keep thy heart with all diligence; for out of it are the issues oflife."Proverbs 4:23 .

THE HEART is one of the most important organs
of our body.
If it ceases to work, death
is sure to follow.
The blood that flows
through the heart constitutes the life, the
energy of the body.
If the blood current is
interrupted for a little while, a clot is
formed.
This is so much of a preparation
for death.
There must be a continual stream
of blood circulating through our bodies to
keep life there.

In view of this important function of our natural
hearts, the Bible very properly uses the heart, the center
of life, as a symbol of the center of our affections, including
the will.
Our will has to do with everything we do.
Whoever of the Lord's people wills to seek more and more
to purify himself becomes more and more alive.
If we are
pure in heart, we resolve to live righteously and soberly in
the present life.
Whoever appreciates the principle that
right is right, and wrong is wrong will desire to live rightwhether Jew or Gentile or the Church of God.

The Church, having accepted God's terms, have made a
consecration of their lives to Him.
They have engaged to
fight a good fight against the world, the flesh and the
Devil.
They are under special obligations as New Creatures.
Their hopes and ambitions are separate from those
of the world.
They are therefore doubly responsible in
respect to their hearts, which represent their inmost
sentiments.

According to a man's innermost sentiment, so is he.
As a man thinketh in his heart, so is his real character.
What is your real will?
What are your real sentiments?
Not, What words do you use? not, What are your actions? but, What is the motive underlying all these?

The New Creature is to be God-like, spiritual, eventually
of the spirit nature in gloryperfect.
But before it attains
that perfection, the heart of the New Creature is required
to prove its loyalty.
Some will be overcomes in
a higher sense than others, but none will be overcomers
except those who are true, loyal, pure.
If, therefore, we
have made a consecration to God, it would be our endeavor
that our hearts, our desires, our motives be perfect.
The only proper attitude is to confess our imperfections,
if we are wrong.
God expects us to be loyal of heart. And that loyalty of heart should reach out and control the
whole life.

If our thoughts are not according to our ideals, we
should endeavor to make them so.
We should put away
anger, malice, hatred, strife, and all such works of the
flesh and the Devil.
With some people, in some conditions,
these thoughts go very deep.
It is not the transitory
thoughts of the mindthe passing thoughtsthat are
meant in our text.
Even people of very bad character may
at times have deep emotions.
The eyes of some persons
will be suffused with tears over some trivial matter.
This
makes them appear to be very tender-hearted, and yet
their lives may show that they would as easily be moved to
some vicious deed as to sympathy.

We see this fact illustrated in the conduct of mobs.
The people who hailed Jesus as King were five days later
crying, "Crucify Him!"
Those who shortly before had
seemed to be so appreciative of Him appeared to lose that
appreciation.

IMPORTANCE OF RIGHT THINKING

In reality a man is not always what on the surface he
seems to be.
His real character is deep down belowthe
purpose of his life.
These are not the mere transitory
thoughts, but the deep fissures of thought, if we may so
designate those which involve the whole life.
The Scriptures
bring to our attention the fact that we are to be
transformed by the renewing of our mindsby having them made over.Rom. 12:2.

The Apostle, speaking of some very vicious traits of
character, says, "And such were some of you, but ye are
washed, but ye are sanctified, but ye are justified, in the
name of the Lord Jesus, and by the Spirit of our God."
(1 Cor. 6:11.)
This cleansing, this sanctifying, comes not
merely through the reading of the Truth, or the mental application of the Truth, but through the heartthinking
on the Truth.
This heart-thinking, these deep resolutions,
are ours as Christians, and are to be guided by certain
principles.
These have to do with the real man
whom God is consideringnot the old creature, more or
less blemished, according to the degree of depravity.
God
looks at the New Creature.

These deep heart convictions and purposes constitute
a transformation of character.
This is the man's real condition, and so is he. If he have some transitory emotion
of anger or of malice, it would not be his real thought,
his real intention.
Therefore it would not be he, but his
old nature, temporarily asserting itself.
As a New Creature,
he is to watch his words, his thoughts, his actions.
If a transitory, wrong thought should pass through his
mind, it would not be the thought of his heart.
And he
as a New Creature, should stop it, put it away, so that it [R5247 : page 164] may not take root in his heart, and choke out better
sentiments.

This right thinking of the heart has very much to do
with the whole life.
The Apostle says that we are transformed
by the renewing of our minds, to know what is the
perfect will of God.
This is the Christian's standpoint.
How glad we are that our Heavenly Father is judging us
from this standpoint!
How glad we are that He is able
to read the heart, that He knows our hearts, that He
knows our inmost thoughts!

At one time we might have thought that we were doing
God service when we were not.
We show our loyalty to
God by giving attention to His Word, that we may know
what is His will.
The more we study God's Word, the
more we receive the spirit of the Truth, and the more we
appreciate it.
And in proportion as we understand God's
regulations and desire to be guided by them, our hearts
will become purified.
Then the more care shall we take of
our hands, what they shall do; and of our tongues, what
they shall say.
Thus we shall keep our heartssubmit
our wills to the will of God.

The will is a part of our heart, just as the rudder is a
part of the ship.
The new will is the rudder to steer us
this way or that way.
The more we understand the
Word of the Lord, the better we understand how to guide
our lives.
Therefore we are to keep our hearts and purify
them by the knowledge of God's Truth, the study of God's
Truth.
To do this, the will must ever be on the alert,
watching with prayer and thanksgiving.

THE CHURCH ON TRIAL FOR LIFE

Some one may ask, why should we do all this?
In a general way we might answer, that we may do rightbecause right is right. But that reason is not sufficient
for us.
While all appreciate the superiority of right over
wrong, yet in our fallen condition we need to have some
inducements to action.
So the Lord puts certain inducements
before us.
He says, "If your heart is right, I desire
to give you everlasting life.
If your heart is wrong,
then you will not be of the kind to whom I will grant
this boon.
You will die the Second Death."

Six thousand years ago there was a trial.
Our first
father, Adam, was tried, and failed.
Consequently we
have no right to life.
But God has arranged through our
Lord Jesus that every member of Adam's race may have
another trial.
The Father is willing to give life everlasting
to all who love righteousness.

So we thankfully accept this provision, and say,
"Heavenly Father, wilt Thou indeed give us another opportunity
for gaining everlasting life?
We would love to
have that life!
We are very thankful for the opportunity!
We love righteousness!
If we are loyal to the principles of
righteousness, shall we get everlasting life?
It is our desire
that Thy will be done in useven that we love
righteousness and hate iniquity."
"Very well, then," the
Heavenly Father says, "I will put you into the School of
Christ, where you will learn righteousness."

Day by day we are learning in the School of Christ.
Our different experiences are a part of the general instructions
for those who love righteousness and who desire
to be taught of the Lord.
The issue of our trial will
be life or death.
The world is not now on trial.
There
is no possibility for the world to gain life as yet.
During
this Gospel Age the Church are the only ones who
are under this Covenant of Sacrificewho are on trial,
therefore, for everlasting life or everlasting death.
In
the next Age, the world will have their opportunity for
learning obedience.
Then the issue for them will be life
or death.

God says, "I have set before you life and death, blessing
or cursing."
There is a curse for every one who loves
unrighteousness; there is a blessing for every one who
loves righteousness.
So during the thousand years of
Christ's Reign the world will be on trial for everlasting
life or everlasting death.
All who are obedient will get
everlasting life.
But all who have the spirit of Satan will
be destroyed in the Second Death.

Only those who are more than mere overcomers will
be of the Royal Priesthood.
There is no excuse for our getting
into the Great Company.
Let us keep our hearts with
all diligence.
Let us watch our hearts.
If they are in full
harmony with God's will, we shall have little trouble with
our tongues.
"Out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh."Math. 12:34.

Our heart is the most wonderful organ of our body.
The tongue is the most subtle of all our members.
The
Lord takes our words as an index of our heart condition.
But since we are imperfect, it is not possible for us to be
faultless in word and deed.
Yet we are diligently and
faithfully to seek to attain the perfect mastery of our
words.
We should be especially on guard in respect to
evil speaking.
Every tendency toward slander is to be
checked.
Whoever of us is reviled is not to revile again.
These tendencies belong to the old nature.
To be pleasing
to the Master, we are to keep our hearts free from every
form of evil.
If this be done, the heart is rightly instructed
of the Lord.
Then we will know that we must
make good whatever is wrong.
We are bound, thoroughly
bound, to make it good to the best of our ability.
Our
heart must keep itself right.

DEFICIENCY IN MODERN EDUCATION

This same principle is applicable to the whole world,
though not on a scale so far reaching.
Mankind are influenced
by thought, by experience.
So vicious children
may be trained up under favorable environments to become
useful citizens.
We have seen where, even with
people of the world, good resolutions to live honestly,
justly, soberly, have had a blessed influence on the life,
making noble men and women, although these may not be
Christians.

We have also seen the reverse of thisthose who were
criminals, but not so of necessity.
Some of them were
born under good conditions; but have read bad books and
meditated upon sinful things.
Thus the thoughts of their
hearts have been evil instead of good.
Thus they have become
inclined toward evil.
As they allow their minds to
run in a certain direction, and allow these thoughts to become
deeply rooted in their hearts, some of them become
very vicious.

We were deeply impressed with this fact in noticing
the photographs of the four gunmen recently convicted of
murder in New York.
Had we seen their pictures before
knowing who they were, we should have said, "Those are
strong characters."
Their hearts had gone wrong, doubtless
because of wrong education and a failure to appreciate
the principles of righteousness.
This seems to be
largely the case at the present time.
Very few see the
principles of righteousness at all.
The majority are
swayed by superstition, by fear and by hopes which are
more or less ephemeral, more or less deceptive.

So we see that the general education of our day is
lacking in a very important respect.
Although the schools
have taken away to some extent the veil of ignorance and
superstition, yet they are not giving instead the full,
proper view of righteousness.
This is because in a general
way the Divine character and the Divine laws are
being ignored.
There is an attempt to teach mortality entirely [R5247 : page 165] aside from the Divine Law.
But this course seems
to be undermining faithseparating the pupils from faith
in a Supreme Creator.
Thus we see that while the world
is making wonderful progress in education, yet it is not
reaching its own ideals.
The human mind in its fallen and
perverted condition, is unable to see the subject of morality
from a standpoint which educators would put before it.

The human mind needs the influence of its higher organs
to assist the lower organs.
Hence, although these
educational influences are beneficial in many respects, yet
they are very injurious in others.
They do not inculcate
veneration for God and for the Divine will.
Therefore
people are unable to grasp the best principles.
The only
persons who are in the right attitude are those who are
seeking to have new thoughts, to have thoughts conformed
to the Divine arrangement, taking the mind of Christ instead
of their own imaginations and judgment, and thus
growing up into Him in all things.
This is our happy
position.

INFLUENCE OF THOUGHT UPON HEALTH

There is another view of the text"As a man thinketh
in his heart, so is he"given by Christian Scientist;
namely, that according to our minds, so be it unto us.
They get some good out of this view.
They say that if
one thinks about kind, noble things, he will be influenced
thus.
We think our Christian Scientist friends are partly
right and partly wrong.
They hold that if one thinks
himself to be well, he will be well; that if one thinks
himself to be sick, he will be sick.
There is a measure of truth in this view.

One-half the people in the world are sick because they
think they are so.
If they thought, not about their aches
and pains, but about more helpful things, they would no
doubt be better and stronger in every way.
The mind has
something to do with our condition.
Whoever mopes about
a headache will undoubtedly make it worse.
Whoever
tries to put the thought of his condition away and to give
attention to other things will undoubtedly help himself.

The less we think about our aches and pains the better
for us.
If we talk about them we aggravate them.
It is
also bad to exercise too much sympathy with each other.
Of course, there are times when it would be cruel not to
show sympathy.
But it is not wise to encourage those
who are weak to complain about their condition.
We become
stronger in proportion as we try to avoid thinking of
our ailments.

One notices this principle in action in a sick room.
Some people will go into the sick room, express a great
deal of sympathy, and leave the sick person under the
impression that he is in a much worse condition than he
really is; whereas they should have helped the person by
encouraging remarks.
It is not necessary to say to the
sick, "You are looking extremely bad!"
But we might
say, "Are you feeling better this morning?
Have you
had a good rest?"
Many people do not know how much
they do rest, and do not feel thankful enough.
So we
might suggest, "I hope you are feeling thankful to the
Lord, and that you are glad because of this beautiful day.
See how the sun shines into your room!
Hear the birds
sing!"
The condition of some people when they are sick
is that of "groanings which cannot be uttered."
Sick people
need some one to bring sunshine into the room.

So, then, dear friends, let us resolve that since we have
covenanted with the Lord to become dead to the old life,
to the old ambitions, to the things of the past, these are to
be all given over.
We will wish to think as the Lord
would have us think, to view all the affairs of life as
He would have us view them, and to be influenced by the
ambitions which He sets before us in His Word.
Thus
doing, we shall as New Creatures grow into the character-likeness
of the Lord.